ROSEVILLE, Minn. — August 15, 2011 — Leading experts from around the world will gather in Barcelona
at the fourth Industrial Fabrics Association International Advanced Textiles Europe conference. AT
Europe ’11 will co-locate alongside ITMA 2011 with two consecutive morning sessions 26-27 Sept.
2011. ITMA, the world’s largest international textile machinery exhibition, runs 22-29 Sept.

AT Europe 2011 is a unique conference designed to unveil valuable insights on new research
and development, with a balance of actual application-based use. Each session is designed to spark
creative thinking for businesses looking for ways to gain a competitive edge.

This week it was announced that Greggory Crouch, U.S. Consul General Barcelona, will give the
Welcome Address in the opening session on “Market Needs.”

Following Crouch is Patricia Hualde, Policy Officer for the European Commission, whose talk
is entitled: “The Need of Multi-Disciplinary Innovations for Assuring Sustainable Growth of the
Textile Industry.” Hualde’s presentation sets the tone for the technical textile industry’s future.

Shishoo’s main research activities have been in the areas of physical, chemical and
mechanical properties of fibers and fabrics and since 1979 he specialized in leading basic and
applied research projects in the area of technical textiles and nonwovens including highly
functional fabrics and garments, medical textiles, absorbent hygienic products, automotive
textiles, protective clothing, bedding and furniture and textile composites.

Prof. Shishoo has published over 200 papers in international scientific and technical
journals and has obtained seven international patents.

In this session the focus will be on market needs for technical textiles in selected the
market sectors: Personal Protection Clothing & Equipment (PPE), Building & Construction,
Automotives and Shipping. In the PPE area the presentations will cover research and needs of
Standardization and Certification from both European and U.S. perspective. The market and business
needs will be addressed in terms of enhancement of innovations in order to assure sustainable
growth of the textile industry.

Opening Presentations –Setting the tone for the future

Welcome Address by Greggory D. Crouch, Consul General of the United States of
America in Barcelona

Many emerging technologies such as nanotechnology are already in the industrial pipeline
aiming at becoming an integral part of various manufacturing processes for the production of
advanced and highly functional textiles. Many important technological advances have been made in
fabric manufacturing processes such as weaving, braiding, and nonwovens technology. This session
will provide presentations on these developments as well as on the topic of performance chemicals
and smart coating technology for producing advanced fabrics.

Dr. Jan Laperre, Centexbel, “State of the Art on Industrialization of Emerging
Technologies”

This session is divided into two sub-sessions with a special focus on the latest information
about protective textiles and smart textiles. There will be a Q&A period at the end of each
sub-session. Part one will focus on new developments in protective textiles including Natick’s
Future Soldier Systems, Protective textiles in the Security industry and nonwovens based heat and
flame protection materials.

Part two will focus on smart and interactive textiles. The presentations will analyze some
success stories & bottlenecks in this field and discuss pitfalls in e-textiles area as well as
describe the development of a commercial smart textiles product.